Empire
by Draed
Summary: The one rule was broken. And millions watched.
1. Prologue

Disc.: I do not own Twilight or any of Stephenie Meyer's characters.

_

* * *

_**Prologue**

_On days like this he hated the rules with a passion. So rigid and inflexible, no room for leniency. No mercy, ever._

_As he stared across the tower room into her anguished face, crimson eyes blazing with hatred, he knew the loss today would not only entail the one whose remains still smoldered between them._

_She would leave and he could not stop her. _

_His brothers stood and spoke and he watched in silent fury._

_And he watched when she shook her head and turned away, sobbing._

_Suddenly he was on his feet, his arm outstretched._

"_Jane!"_

_But she was gone..._


	2. Vision

**Vision**

**Forks, Washington.**

It had been three months since the Volturi retreated from the combined forces of vampires loyal to the Cullens, the gathered werewolves, the witnesses and the living proof Alice and Nahuel had provided in the clearing regarding Renesmee's growth and future physical development.

Time was flying by as the Cullens made preparations to leave once again. This time they wouldn't move across the whole country, all had agreed that Seattle was reasonably far away as to not attract unwanted attention for a few short years yet it was still close enough to include Charlie and Jacob in their daily lives without uprooting Jacob and his newly formed pack with Seth, Quil, Leah and Embry.

With the stress and excitement mostly gone everyone drifted back into old habits.  
Edward could often be caught muttering to himself what he'd do to the _dog_ if Jacob ever decided to even _think_ anything indecent about his daughter. Reminding Jacob every other minute about his impending doom was Edward's favorite pastime these days. Besides that, both got along rather well. Jacob on the other hand had ordered and received the _Compendium of Blonde Jokes_ and vigorously pursued his goal of making Rosalie's life as miserable as possible. One has to admire a man's passion for his hobby. If they both weren't so interested in cars and spent time together in the Cullen's huge garage, there would have been casualties one way or the other. Emmett still tried to win a match of arm wrestling against Bella and Alice was fast running out of stores to shop at for Renesmee's next one or two decades of clothing needs. All in all, life was pretty good.

The day they finally started packing up the Forks house was what years later became known as the day of the Armageddon Prophecy.

The whole morning had been used to stuff boxes upon boxes into the three long moving trucks the Cullens had parked in front of their house. As noon arrived the only two vampires still not even remotely done were Alice and Jasper. Well, Jasper had finished packing all of his six boxes of personal belongings shortly after the trucks had arrived but now he was helping Alice and that was a whole different ball game.  
Jasper crouched inside the back of the last truck with available space and tried desperately to arrange the growing number of boxes Alice produced from the house. She mercilessly piled them up next to the trucks rear and ran back inside to bring out more, again and again.  
Emmett sat on the stairs in front of the house with Rosalie curled up in his lap and let out a low whistle.

"I never knew the extend of that walk-in closet of hers... there must be a portal to another dimension hidden someplace inside. There's no way she can have kept all of _that_", he pointed at the boxes, "in there without collapsing the whole floor from overload." He laughed as Alice reappeared from inside carrying four huge boxes. Only her legs were visible beneath the dangerously swaying tower of packed up dresses. She stopped and looked around the lowest box with a scowl on her face.

"Rose... please?"

"Most certainly, my fashion queen." Rose smiled and sat up, smacking Emmett in the back of his head before settling down again in his lap.

"Hey, what did I do?" Emmett protested halfheartedly.

"Thank you", Alice muttered before setting down this patch of Jasper's never-ending torture.

Jacob lay in his wolf form on the grass next to the stairs with Renesmee sound asleep on his back. She snored softly, her face pressed into his russet brown fur and her small hands clutched tightly around a few strands. Bella and Edward sat next to him and leaned against his flank, one of Edwards arms draped over Bella's shoulders. Both laughed at Emmett's complaint as Rosalie smacked his head and Jacob let out a muffled bark of a laugh worried that the little girl on his back might wake up.  
The walking tower of boxes that was Alice returned once more and Jasper sighed loudly.

"Alice, please just let me help you with..."

Alice skidded to a halt and snarled from behind her boxes. "You touch my babies and it's sleeping on the couch for you for the next ten..."

She suddenly stopped talking and dropped the boxes. As they toppled over everyone saw her glazed over eyes.

"Jane ?" Edward asked, jumping to his feet and moving towards her. He had seen Jane's face in Alice's vision but it had come and was gone so fast, he hadn't been able to see anything clearly. Then another image popped up in Alice's thoughts. Jane was walking away from Aro, Caius and Marcus, her almost black cloak fluttering to the ground behind her. It came to rest next to a small pile of ashes. The Guard's sign of pride and loyalty discarded.

Edward watched as Alice blinked and her gaze became focused again.

"Jane has left the Guard because Caius killed Alec." she whispered. " And now she wants to avenge his death but can't deci...!"Alice stopped and her jaw dropped, utter incomprehension on her face. Her eyes had gone wide. "I... wha..?" was all she was able to mutter before she collapsed the ground. There was a loud cracking sound when her head hit the driveway.

All of them were on their feet in an instant running towards her, all except Jasper and Jacob who was afraid to wake Renesmee. He just reared his head and stared at the small vampire who twitched on the ground, his dark brown eyes full of concern. Jasper sat frozen in the back of the moving truck, a box still in his hands and his face reflected his emotions. Confusion, fear and horror, all raced across his face in fractions of a second.

Alice's body shook as if little jolts of electricity passed through her and her eyes were unfocused, she stared off into the distance with a vacant expression on her face. All the while her body convulsed violently.

"Rose, call Carlisle and tell him to come home." Edward ordered. She opened her cellphone and started talking quietly mere seconds later. Bella kneeled next to Alice's head with fluttering hands, uncertain of how to help her sister.

"Alice? Alice please, please snap out of it! Alice!?" she cried and started to shake with tearless sobs. Edward's pressed his palms to his temples and groaned.

"There's so much...", he gasped and tried to block her out. According to his pained face it wasn't working too well. He sank to his knees and pressed his hands to his temples.

"Jazz, don't sit there like a statue and get her inside. NOW!" Edward snapped at the shocked vampire still kneeling in the back of the truck. Jasper blinked and then ran to Alice's side, picking her up and holding her close. Emmett stood next to the front door and held it open for them, a look of panic on his face.

"What's wrong with her, Eddie?" he asked in a scared voice when Jasper passed him with Alice cradled to his chest.

" She has a vision but I have never seen her have one quite as strong is this one. The images in her mind change so fast I can't keep up. It hurts to try!" Edward breathed and shut his eyes. He bent forward until his forehead almost hit the ground, rocking back and forth.

"Bella, shield her! Make it stop!" he yelled before clenching his teeth together in an attempt to handle the flood of images assaulting him from her mind.

Bella jumped to her feet and ran inside the house. She raced up the stairs towards Alice's and Jasper's room and instinctively pushed her shield towards Alice, surrounding her sister with it. When she felt the bright spark that was Alice presence enter her shield she heard Edward's sigh of relieve coming from the front of the house. She pushed her shield away from herself, only keeping Alice surrounded by it.

_'I love you, Edward',_ she told him. _'Are you better now?'_

"Yes, love, this is much better, thank you." She heard him whisper from downstairs. "Love you, too."

She smiled at his answer and returned her focus to Alice. Jasper had put her down on their bed and Alice managed to pull her legs to her chin, curled up in a fetal position and still shook with seizures.

It took Carlisle and Esme two hours to return from their interrupted hunting trip but Alice's condition had not changed. Whenever Edward asked Bella to lift her shield for a short time, all he could gather from Alice's thoughts were strange graphs and then rows and rows of numbers flashing by too fast for him to grasp what they meant.

Jasper never left Alice's side. He lay on the bed beside her and hugged her close, murmuring in her ear. In his panicked state of mind his empathic gift went on a rampage showering everyone with fear and dread, so much so that when she awoke everyone but him had fled the house and Jacob had returned to La Push.

Alice's vision had lasted for almost eight hours.

By the time the Cullens returned to their house, anxious and curious about the vision and what it meant Alice had already locked herself in the now empty walk-in closet in her and Jasper's room. Jasper sat on the ground with his back to the double door leading to the closet. He watched them enter the bedroom with a pout on his face but nonetheless looking relieved when the rest of his family gathered around him.

"Jazz, what's going on?" Emmett whined as he eyed the door to the closet cautiously.

"Is she alright?" Carlisle asked and took a step towards it.

"Don't come in, Carlisle!" Alice yelled from inside, when he reached for the handle. "Genius at work here, so shoo!, shoo! and do .. whatever you do when I'm not around. I'm busy here saving the world and stuff... I think. So much to do, so little time. Priorities suck, I was so looking forward to Seattle and the mall and..." She trailed off. The only sound coming from behind the double doors were the low clicks of very fast typing and then Alice started to sing quietly, "_Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain...."_.

All eyes turned to Jasper. He smiled weakly and explained.

"As soon as her vision was over, she jumped out of bed and ran to your office, Carlisle. She grabbed your notebook and locked herself in the closet. She just said not to worry and it will take a little while." He sighed. "I don't know anything else. She kicked me out!" He pointed over his shoulder.  
All vampires groaned in unison. When Alice says 'a little while' usually days were more likely than hours.  
Bella went over to the closet's door and opened her mouth when Alice answered her unspoken question. "Yes, Bella, I _am_ fine. No, don't worry about me and please ask Edward to not try and read my mind, he will only get a headache if that was possible at all." She laughed. "By the way, we are not moving for another two months so start unpacking. When you're done, please bring up the printer for me. I'll need it. Oh, and would someone kindly answer _that_? It is distracting me!" She complained in a shrill voice. One second later the phone downstairs began to ring and all of them chuckled.  
Well, Alice was back.

Two weeks later, Alice finally emerged from her closet. When she walked down the stairs into their living room her eyes were black with thirst and she carried a thick, red folder plastered with '_KEEP AWAY" _stickers and danger signs.

"Alice!", Bella cried out but Alice held up her hand to stop her before rubbing her temple.

"Please, promise me, you will never look for this folder or read its content. I will know when you plan to and it will be well hidden until we need it. So no need to get all worked up about it!" She smiled.

Her family looked at each other but everyone nodded in the end.

"Great!" She bounced up and down and grinned. "So, who missed me?"


	3. Joshua

Disc.: I do not own Twilight or any of Stephenie Meyer's characters.

* * *

**Joshua**

**Langley, Virginia.  
**

It was a cold night. The last remains of the blizzard that had started shortly before nightfall howled eerily outside the windows of the dark room, the only light coming from the medical equipment beeping softly in the background. The alarm clock on the bedside table blinked lazily. 3.06 am.

They stood at the end of the narrow hospital bed, the female small and slender, the other tall and clad in a white doctor's coat. Both looked down at the motionless man connected to the respiration unit and only the reoccurring sound of oxygen being forced into the frail figure too weak to breath on its own was an indicator that the haggard man in front of them was still clinging to life, the heart rate monitor echoing his deteriorating physical condition. The beeps came erratic and slow, too slow.

"His heart is already so weak." She whispered.

Both listened to the uneven, agonizingly slow thumps that sounded weakly from inside the sleeping man's chest.

"He's dying," the tiny woman added, "but we do need him alive for this. Not just alive but being _one_ of us. It is important that he is... supportive, on _our_ side. This won't work otherwise. I can't explain it any better." She shivered. "It was all so much to take in and I still don't understand half of it." She looked up into his face and saw the turmoil there.

"I have seen it happen and I wouldn't ask this of you if there was any other way..." She trailed off.

"But there is not, I assume." The pain in his voice was obvious. He closed his eyes for a moment and then picked up the small folder listing the patient's information from the lower end of the bed. Quickly scanning the papers he started to summarize.

"Joshua M. Talbot, age 42, single, diagnosed with lung cancer ten months ago, underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Had his left lung removed six month later. Despite all efforts metastases spread to his liver and lower spinal cord." He stopped and glanced at her. "I overheard the nurses talking earlier, they said he has two to three days. If he's strong and the morphine dosage is high enough."

Her eyes glazed over for a moment. "He has a little over 10 hours if we stand by and do nothing." She corrected him in a small voice.

He rubbed his eyes with his free hand and let his shoulders slump forward. "Why him? The odds of surviving the change at his age are slim at best. Even worse in the condition he is in. I don't have experience with changing someone so... old. There's just no precedence. So much could go wrong." He reached behind his head and began to massage his neck. When she didn't answer him he studied her tortured expression and noticed the look on her face, quickly changing from annoyance to confusion and back again.

"First you lock yourself away in that closet of yours for _two_ weeks and then you left for the east coast and just came back yesterday. You never called and were gone for six days, Jasper was almost insane with worry. You all but forced us onto the plane without an explanation, just stating that the four of us _had_ to leave right away. You know I trust you and never doubt what you see but this... this is really stretching it. Even you are admitting that you don't know the full extend of your last... vision."

She didn't answer but stared off into space, antagonizing over the mass of images in her mind.

He pointed to the motionless figure under the white sheets. "So... why him?" He asked louder snapping her out of her trance.

"I will try to explain in more detail when we are back home with him, I promise! When he's safe with us we have time for the whole story if I can make any more sense of this _mess_ that's in here at the moment."

With a look of despair she pointed to her head and began pacing in front of the windows. "We just really had to hurry! He doesn't have much time left."

Back and forth, three steps, again and again.

"Alice." He said in a calm voice.

She stopped and looked up to his face. "What?"

"Why him?" He repeated and spoke each word slow and accentuated.

A taut smile ghosted over her face. When she noticed his penetrating gaze she flinched back slightly but didn't look away.

"Read what his occupational information says on there" She finally answered in a low voice and nodded towards the file in his hands.

He turned to the next page and stared at it for a long minute, shock obvious on his face.

"Alice, the consequences..."

"I am aware of the consequences," she disrupted him, "but this, him..., he is essential, Carlisle... and it _will_ be real all too soon! If he isn't here when they find out and they _will_ find out..." She began to slur the words together, rapidly becoming agitated. "Ugh! I am positively the very first vampire to get a migraine!" Alice pressed her palms to her temples.

"It's okay, Alice, it's okay. Everything is going to be fine." He took a quick step and hugged her tiny frame with one arm then turned both of them back towards the bed and its occupant.

"Does he really know what he is getting into ? You said you talked to him for quite a while last week but... is he really sure about this?"

"He doesn't know about the _big_ picture yet," she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers, " since even I don't see it clearly at the moment, but I offered him a way out of this." Alice waved her hand towards the beeping devices, the bed and the fragile looking man on it.

"I told him _twice _and made sure he was lucid through it all_... _and he accepted. And yes, Carlisle, I did mention all the drawbacks...and the limitations our life includes," she hurriedly added when he opened his mouth to speak. Suddenly she chuckled.

"But don't worry too much, the newborn craze will never even show. Well, the thirst will, but he _can't_ hunt." She smiled brightly up to him. "He's hematophobic! Joshua will start a whole new trend. No hunting, not even animals. The blood bank's best customer!" She giggled. "Hold your breath, avert your eyes and sip it through a straw!" She shook with silent laughter now bouncing up and down.

He just stared at her. "He is afraid of _blood _?!"

"Oh, relax, will you? This part of the whole thing was very clear, scout's honor!" She quipped.

"Alright then...," he finally agreed with a sigh, "where are those brothers of yours?"

At that moment the door opened and Edward entered the room, Jasper close behind him. Both were dressed in scrubs with Edward even wearing a surgical mask and Jasper carrying a stretcher.

"Nurse Cullen to the rescue!" Edward removed the mask and smiled grimly.

Jasper walked over to Alice and hugged her close, then he turned to Carlisle.

"We are done, the ambulance is parked right outside the rear emergency exit and the tank is full. We set up the portable respirator so we are ready to go."

Edward leaned against the wall next to the door. "So, this is him?"

Alice just nodded still giggling.

He raised an eyebrow at her and pushed himself into the room. Since her vision a little over three weeks ago all he got from Alice was static, jumbled images which made no sense. After a few tries he gave up on reading her mind and just tuned her out as best as possible. Too much information.

"I left the transfer papers and all the necessary documents at the head nurse's office and signed the release form. Officially he will be undergoing spine surgery in the Cullen Cancer Treatment Center in Forks three days from now. Some kind of revolutionary new treatment." His lopsided grin was sad. "Death or instant recovery. Nice odds."

Carlisle walked over to the bed and switched off the alarm on the heart rate monitor then started to remove the sensors.

"After I remove this," he pointed to the tube linked to the man's throat, "we have about one minute to get to the ambulance and reconnect the respirator."

All three looked expectantly to Alice.

" If we leave in eight seconds, no one will notice us. Just be quick about it." She glared at them.

Jasper and Edward lifted the limp body onto the stretcher.

"Go!"

Carlisle disconnected the tube.

They reached the ambulance without meeting anyone on the deserted corridors. Alice ran in front of them to the driver's side and hopped into the seat. Edward and Jasper raised the stretcher into the back of the ambulance while Carlisle got in beside them and reached into his inner coat pocket. Edward closed the door and Jasper attached the respiratory tube to the man's throat.

As the ambulance accelerated through the howling gusts of wind a small syringe gleamed in Carlisle's hand.


	4. Viena

Disc.: I do not own Twilight or any of Stephenie Meyer's characters.

_A/N: I introduced a different 1st chapter to make this story more comprehensible from the beginning. So, sorry, nothing new back here, go look at chapter 2 :) And please keep in mind when you review, that english is not my 1st language, so there might be some awkward sentences, thank you!_

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**Viena**

**Viena's apartment, Saturday April 1st - ****Eight years later.**

She furiously threw the sheets of paper into the air and watched them float down gently to the floor of her bedroom. Two of them landed on the broken remains of her cellphone.

"What a load of bull this is!" Viena seethed while debating to either slowly burn every single page or go out for a drink. Maybe both. And make that multiple drinks.

With a sigh she lay back on her bed and randomly grabbed one of the pages to look at. She snorted. That drink down at Mickey's sounded better and better every second. The Martinis there were to die for.  
This _had _to be a prank, no doubt about it. It was April 1st after all. But what a sick joke...

Mulling over the rather extensive amount of coworkers and colleagues on whose toes she had stepped over the last few months she jumped off the bed and began pacing. Pondering her mental list of subjects for a while just one name came up._ Martha! _Only that scrawny geek could come up with something so elaborate and yet so unbelievable ridiculous at the same time. Martha had reason enough to be behind this charade, all thanks to the small incident back at Camp Peary during basic and the disciplinary hearing but there was just no way that she was able to forge _these_ kind of documents. The whole thing was way out of Martha's league, too complex and too authentic. Or wasn't it?

If only today wasn't April 1st, this mess would almost make sense in an insane and delusional kind of way.

_'April fools', woohoo!'_

Viena pitied herself for a brief moment before she threw herself onto the bed again and screamed into her pillow punching the mattress repeatedly.  
Finally she turned around and let loose a few choice words before holding her breath and slowly counted to ten. It didn't help much.

"If I ever get my hands on the freak that made this up... Ugh!" She groaned and then clenched her teeth so hard it hurt. This wouldn't do. Viena decided on a few more expletives and gave the ceiling a piece of her mind feeling slightly better when her more colorful vocabulary was depleted shortly after. A few deep breaths later she stood up, gathered the widespread pieces of heavy, ivory colored paper and sorted the pages.  
She pondered her options and quickly settled for the obvious one.

Coffee!

Yes, a nice, hot cup of coffee was going to help immensely right about now. Good for the nerves.

She shuffled into the kitchen and threw the dossier on the table then she prepared a fresh pot. Once the coffee was hot and steaming she poured herself a cup. She started to sip carefully and leaned over the table to reach for the remote on the far end to turn on the TV. Seinfeld reruns, great. Viena sighed and sat down on one of her two matching bar stools next to the kitchen counter and reduced the volume. She closed her eyes and took another sip. No cream and four pieces of sugar. This was heaven!  
She couldn't help it though, her eyes returned to the offending file on the polished red surface in front of her before hanging her head in defeat and setting the cup down on the table. Reaching over she lifted the top page from the pile and began to read - for the fifth time today.

First was her promotion to the status of Senior Operations Officer which went along with her new security clearance of R1. But there was _no_ such security clearance, she was sure about it. None of the connected agencies had one like it. Then her transfer to the Directorate of Intelligence, the OREA to be precise. The Office of Russian and European Analysis.

_'What. The. Hell? I'm a bio-engineer now for crying out lout. Give me some DNA to poke at not dry intel to sort through. That's why I left in the first place... just what have I done to deserve this !?_' She whined mentally and continued with the next page.

In the background the episode of Seinfeld was suddenly disrupted but Viena was to preoccupied to notice.

"…_13 confirmed dead... oh my god, did she just..."_

There on that next page the reference to the newly issued communication device made her hiss, again. All of this was ample reason for submitting the responsible culprit to the fury that was Viena Serrata. The mentioned BlackBerry Onyx, which had promptly been delivered not ten minutes after the dossier, now sat on top of the dresser next to the front door. Remembering the tiny girl's blinding smile who had dropped it off still made Viena cringe. Talk about excessive teeth whitening, that pixie-like sidekick of whoever orchestrated this insanity definitely rinsed with straight bleach. Multiple times a day! And she had _so_ obviously been a fake. Who handed over a custom made BlackBerry with a chipper 'Enjoy!' !? Exactly...

"_... through the steel fence... whole group of..."_

The next paragraph announced the termination of her old cell service at 12.00 pm as of April 1st.  
Which actually had happened and consequently led to the artful improvement of her bedroom's interior design by throwing her aforementioned phone and a bunch of pages across the room a few minutes earlier. Realizing that the cell didn't have any connectivity _at all_ in Washington D.C. past 12.00 does that to you...

"_... no effect... wait a moment, what are... …two more... ...are those wo..."_

Remembering her destroyed cell she got angry again and clenched her fists. She glanced at the TV and absentmindedly scoffed at the bad special effects of whatever was on before she turned it off and rested her head in her palm.

Viena turned to the next page and got to her _favorite_ part. Besides all of the above she apparently had been appointed personal attaché to the ambassador of some uncivilized backwater nation located somewhere in Europe - too tiny and irrelevant to make it into the official agency's database. When the database query hadn't offered satisfying results she had caved and looked for it on the big globe which had its place on her desk back in the alcove she used as home office. You never knew where you might get lucky. But it was nowhere to be found. Eventually Viena had tried the web but not even the 3rd generation of Google Earth had offered a location for those pitiful square miles of dirt and rubble. And everyone knew that application could show you any place you wanted. In a VR-environment!  
One would assume that they'd include a map with the orders, but no, no such luck.

The country's name did ring a bell though. Wasn't there a political uproar back in good old Europe a few days ago? A small city in the heart of Italy had declared itself autonomous and gained sovereignty by allegedly bribing more than half of the Italian senate.

_'Nah, _that's _pretty much impossible. I don't care anyway...Europeans are crazy.' _

She snorted. Reading the overseas gossip columns wasn't exactly her idea of a good time and brewing tea for years to come for some old, overweight, balding and overall unpleasant ambassador of whatchamacallit wasn't in Vienas's plans for her vocational future either.

And ultimately there had been a post-it note on the front.

**'Please be ready for pickup at 1 pm sharp. The service will provide transportation' **

_'Pshah,... whatever.'_

There was no way she was going to play along.  
Viena refilled her cup and then eyed the red digits projected against the kitchen wall between the two small windows that offered a nice view of the adjacent house four yards away. Bricks, bricks and more bricks.  
She heard sirens over the noise of the street coming through the open windows. Probably an accident somewhere in the neighborhood.

12.58

She marveled at the nice scenery and could smell the dumpster down at the street level. Ah, home sweet home... and more sirens.

12.59

A fast clacking sound interrupted her thoughts. Looking down she noticed her traitorous fingernails that drummed a nervous staccato on the kitchen table.

_'Get a grip, Viena! Your are better than this.'_

"Uh huh." She muttered to herself but couldn't help looking towards the front door.

01.00

Three short knocks.

_'No way!' _Viena held her breath.

Two more knocks.

_'Go away!'_

"Ms. Viena Serrata?" A female voice. "We are here to pick you up."

Viena swallowed and slowly walked to the door risking a quick peek through the spyhole.

_'Now that's one good looking... necktie?' _

A standard issue necktie but a necktie nonetheless.  
Curiosity won the internal struggle and she opened the door tentatively.

"H.. Hello?" _'Way to go, girl, you sound like scared 8 year old.'_

A man and a woman stood outside her door looking like storybook secret service agents. A tall blonde, the classic beauty but very pale, wearing a standard black jacket and a tight knee length skirt and a massively build man with curly dark hair in a very much non-standard size black suit. He was huge! And just as pale as his partner. Both had impartial expressions further accentuated by dark tinted sunglasses and held up their IDs. Viena stared at them for a second and then stifled a small giggle.

_'Oh boy, whoever designed these suits must have been a fan of the classics. I have actually never seen anyone from the service up close. MIB is _so_ last century!'_

The blonde raised one eyebrow but the man spoke first. "This is Agent Hale," he motioned towards the woman, "and I am Agent McCarty. We have been sent on behalf of the embassy and are here to escort you to Ronald Reagan National where you are to meet with the ambassador."

"The... the airport?" Viena asked.

"No, the mall." Agent Hale replied sourly and you could almost hear her rolling her eyes behind the shades. "Yes, the airport, what did you think ? Don't they teach you anything in that lab of yours?"

_'Okay, so blondy and I are going to be reeeaaally close.'_

Viena crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at the two obvious imposters, too angry to be intimidated.

"So, who paid you guys to make fun of me, huh? Was it Martha? It was her, wasn't it? Come on, admit it!" She pointed one finger at the man's chest and put her other hand on her hip.

Both agents looked at each other and back to Viena.

"Ms. Serrata, I assure you this is no laughing matter. Your orders are genuine. We are to hand you this," he handed her a sealed envelope, "in case you did not believe that the first set you received earlier were... authentic."

"Oh..." She reflexively took the envelope and stared at it incredulously.

"I suggest you start by opening it." Agent Hale smartly commented and began to look at her fingernails.

Viena narrowed her eyes at the blonde agent but quickly opened the envelope. Inside was a single document, an official agency form detailing her promotion and the meeting with the ambassador. Below it she found the signature of her direct supervisor and... the signature of CIA's Deputy Director Joshua M. Talbot. A handwritten addendum at the very bottom caught her eye.

_"**Dear Ms. Serrata,**_

**_I know you are the right person for this job.  
Please be safe._**

_**J.M. Talbot**"_

"Oh, wow... so this... is it really... I mean... really?" She stammered. The tall man nodded with a hint of a smile that softened his face.

"But I'm not ready! I am not even dressed right." She exclaimed running her hands nervously over her baggy sweater. "I can't go outside like this, much less meet an ambassador!"

She turned on the spot and headed for her bedroom completely ignoring the two agents still standing at the door.

"Excuse me... Ms. Serrata?" Agent McCarty called to stop her. "You really only need your phone and a pair of shoes." He added looking her up and down. "The embassy will provide everything you might need and I have been informed that formal attire has been prepared for you at the airport." He suddenly stiffened and touched something in his right ear. A tiny white wire snaked out of his collar and vanished behind his neck. "Our schedule is tight and we need to leave right now." He sounded stressed.

"Oh, okay." She answered feebly. Viena hurried back and grabbed the BlackBerry off of the dresser before opening the top drawer and removing her purse and keys. She slid into the first pair of sneakers she found and thrust the black cell into the back pocket of her jeans then she stepped outside of her apartment, locking the door behind her.  
She inhaled deeply steadying herself. "Alright, let's go!"

Agent Hale turned and led the way down the short flight of stairs with McCarty following behind her. Outside Viena was greeted by a gust of wind and the continuing sound of sirens further away. Large cloud banks hurried across the sky leaving only small patches of blue through which the sunlight filtered in the distance. In front of the house a black SUV with dark tinted windows was waiting for them. Next to it stood another agent, nearly as tall as McCarty but not as brawny and blond like the female. Agent Hale walked up to the driver's side and got in the car while her tall, muscled partner introduced them.

"Ms. Serrata, this is Agent Whitlock."

The blond man nodded casually and opened the door for Viena.

"Thank you." She mumbled as he waited for her to climb in. Agent McCarty walked around the back of the SUV and entered the car to sit next to her. As soon as everyone was seated, Agent Hale maneuvered the heavy car into the street and quickly accelerated towards the airport leaving the ominous sound of wailing sirens behind them.


	5. Detour

Disc.: I do not own Twilight or any of Stephenie Meyer's characters.

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**Detour**

Viena perceived the city of Washington D.C. as a blackened blur of streets and cars as they wove through the traffic always going slightly faster than the speed limit allowed. She guessed no one would think twice about a speeding black SUV with tinted windows and government plates in the nation's capital. Her head fell against the cool pane of the back seat window and she closed her eyes, recalling the events that had led to this point, her being driven to the airport wearing only pajama pants and a baggy sweater, accompanied by three secret service agents.  
She sighed against the cold glass and doodled absentmindedly in the mist her breath had left on the inside of the car window when she realized that she had no idea what to expect of her new assignment. What exactly were her duties as an ambassador's attaché? It was highly unlikely that it really included endless hours of brewing tea and making coffee as she had imagined just half an hour earlier, when she had practically been _taken_ from her apartment. Viena pondered what she knew about embassies and ambassadors in general and realized it wasn't much to begin with. Why of all people _she_ had been chosen for this position was completely beyond her. Whoever had decided that she was the best choice to navigate the treacherous waters of diplomatic small talk that defined the role of any nation's envoy to another country must be in dire need of a shrink or better medication, or both.  
Viena had never been the social type, being more comfortable in laboratories and around computers than in clubs and in a crowd of people her own age. She preferred her research or 'prodding DNA' as she called it over awkward dating disasters or any relationship for that matter. At least her work never had bad morning breath or bad taste in music or just enough intellect to manage a half decent conversation. Her last official date had been while she attended Harvard over four years ago. It had ended when Viena's date told her to look over the edge of the petri dish she was apparently stuck in and tried to convince her that discussing the differences between two kinds of gene sequencing methods was not an acceptable subject for conversation during a first date. Having no social life whatsoever had helped her academical studies immensely, though. She held degrees in Genetics as well as Biological Engineering and had been nominated for Geek of the Year by her fellow peers at Harvard Medical. Fortunately she had not won in that category.

A small part of her still hoped that this was just a big hoax and there would be laughing colleagues at the airport calling her gullible and naïve and pointing out her other _endearing_ qualities. She sighed again playing with the hem of her sweater. If this was indeed real she at least hoped that her new _boss_ was patient and had a high threshold for pain and abuse because she was _so_ not the right person for the job!  
Viena turned her head and watched her entourage, grinning at the thought of how she was being escorted to the airport.

_'This ambassador must be pretty damn important or extraordinarily well compensated for his position'_, she mused when she studied the interior of the SUV. To call it elegant was an understatement. Mahogany inlays, black leather seats, TFT screens in the back of the headrests, the thick bulletproof glass tinted almost black and the digital dashboard, all hinted at this being more of a privately owned car than an official agency vehicle.

_'I guess embassies have their own standard, even if it's only a very, very small country'_ Viena added when she let her fingers glide over the smooth leather that covered the surface of the center console between her and Agent McCarty. She looked at his brawny frame out of the corners of her eyes and studied his appearance. The black suit fit his form perfectly and she could see the muscles strain against the fabric. He appeared to look straight ahead and Viena took the opportunity to take a closer look at his profile. His skin was almost a perfectly pale alabaster, even his features could have been chiseled out of stone. She let her eyes linger on his brown curls which framed his face... his very young looking face. She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to guess his age despite his huge body. He had to be around twenty years old she decided. Then she remembered her other two escorts and they hadn't looked any older either. Very handsome or beautiful in Hale's case, all of them very pale and definitely at an age where you expect them to be in college and not guarding VIPs. Viena giggled, now there was a thought! She had never considered herself to be _very important_ before!

Agent McCarty turned his head slightly towards her and raised one eyebrow.

"Ms. Serrata?" he asked after a second of looking at her.

"Uhm, well,... you look awfully young to have made it into the Service." She answered a little embarrassed and fidgeted in her seat. "How old are you if you don't mind me asking?" He looked stunned for a second before breaking into a huge smile showing perfect white teeth and dimples.

"Well, thank you," he said, his smile becoming impossible wide," good to know I still look alright even after sevent..." He broke off when the blonde woman cleared her throat. He snapped his head around to the front and seemed to listen for a few seconds. Viena looked back and forth from Hale to McCarty and wondered what that was all about, they seemed to be in a conversation but she didn't hear a word being said. He huffed once then turned back to her and grinned apologetically.

"I am sorry, Ms. Serrata, I was...."

He was interrupted when a cellphone started ringing, the happy melody strangely out of place inside the black furnished car and the gloom from the tinted windows.  
Agent Whitlock reached into his pocket and produced a small silver phone. He snapped it open and listened for what seemed like half a minute before he ended the call and turned to Agent Hale. Viena thought she saw his lips move so fast it looked like they were trembling but she couldn't hear anything he said.

"Emmett!" Agent Hale hissed. Viena's neighbor exploded into motion. So fast her eyes couldn't begin to follow he had secured her seat belt and draped his right arm in front of her stomach holding her tight against the seat. Cold radiated from his arm through the sleeve of his jacket.

"All done." He answered in a low voice. Then he looked at Viena. "Please don't be alarmed, Viena, there was a change of plans. We have to take a slight detour."

_''Viena?' What happened to 'Ms. Serrata?'' _She wondered.

"Detou...?", was all she could utter before Hale stepped on the brakes, spinning the SUV across two lanes and turning 180 degrees. The massive car swerved violently and avoided the oncoming traffic by mere inches. Tires squealed as they accelerated back the way they came from. A few honks could be heard but they grew faint with distance as they sped away. Cars were flashing past them at an astonishing speed and Viena grabbed the handle above her window with both hands trying not to scream in horror. Abruptly she felt a wave of calmness wash over her and she relaxed a little into her seat.

_'Guess this is what they call a normal day of work in the service, huh?'_ Viena commented sourly to herself.

"What's going on?" She gasped and then exhaled loudly. Her stomach felt as if it was still back where they had turned around.

"We have to pick up a few... associates." Agent Whitlock answered reluctantly without turning around. "We will take them to the airport with us. It will get a little crowded in here and I apologize for any inconvenience this might pose for you. "

"Ah, I see." She mumbled. "That's fine, I guess."

McCarty reached between them and slid the center console into the back rest of the their seats before grinning at Viena and steadying her again with his arm. Which was absolutely necessary the way the blond maniac behind the steering wheel handled the heavy SUV.  
Agent Hale drove without superfluous maneuvers, apparently never using the brakes and somehow she always found another opening in a neighboring lane to slip into when Viena thought they would crash into the rear of the car in front of them. She peeked at the speedometer and her breathing faltered. 86mp/h in the inner city! The agency's drivers training must be really worth the tax payer's money or Agent Hale was simply insane. Probably the latter. Viena swallowed hard and bit her lip. She closed her eyes and tried to breath evenly, always waiting for their car to hit another vehicle. But that never happened. Seconds became minutes.

Suddenly she was pressed into her seat belt when Agent Hale stepped on the brakes. She opened her eyes and looked outside. The SUV rolled past the front of an outdoor fashion store, camouflage gear and hiker's accessories on display in the front windows. They turned right into a small alley which led past the left side of the store and came to a stop after a few yards. She heard McCarty leave the car and then her eyes widened when the store's emergency exit right next to her side of the car opened and four shadows rushed towards them.

"Dogs in the trunk!" She heard McCarty shout. And then three things happened simultaneously. Agent Whitlock opened his door and suddenly the pixie girl who had delivered her new BlackBerry was grinning back at her through the front seats while sitting on the blond agents lap. Her golden – _'golden?!'_ - eyes sparkled with excitement. The little devil had worn the same shades as McCarty and Hale the first time they had met. She looked very much out of place, her short spiky hair and the bright yellow sweater she wore oddly at contrast with the agents' black suits and the dark leather interior of the car.

"Hi again!" she trilled and smiled showing her disturbingly white and glistening teeth.

"Uh...," was all Viena could stammer before movement to her left demanded her attention. She noticed a young woman with waist length brown hair who now sat in the middle of the back seat. She looked at Viena and a shy smile showed on her face. Another pair of golden eyes.

"Hello." The girl breathed and waved her delicate pale hand.

"Hey...," Viena managed to respond before the door of the trunk was almost ripped off its hinges and two black haired men with russet skin crawled into the tight space behind her seat. A small shriek escaped her lips and she shrank back against the door besides her as she watched the two struggle to find a comfortable position to sit in. From the way they had to crouch and twist their legs as they tried to close the door behind them they were probably very tall. Both of them wore identical black jogging suits but Viena could see they didn't wear any shoes. And that the jogging suits still had the price tags attached.

"All set back here!" One of them called out and Agent Hale stepped on the accelerator.

As the car raced down the narrow alley the two men in the back settled down and Viena was able to get a better look at them. They appeared to be Native Americans and looked like there were in their mid-twenties. Both had dark brown eyes, almost black in the dim light the tinted windows allowed inside the car.

_'At least not another golden pair,"_ Viena noted relieved. She was no fan of colored contacts at all. Not anymore. Another past date and another conversation horrible gone wrong had cured her of ever trying to be _different_. What had been wrong with Pac-Man contacts? Oh well. Let bygones be bygones...

Both looked at her with curious expressions and nodded towards Viena.

"Hey, … uhm," one of them greeted her and smiled sheepishly. "I didn't catch your name back there. I'm Embry Call." He awkwardly held out his hand towards her and hit his head on the low ceiling while trying to lift his arm above the back of her seat. He cursed under his breath which earned him a reprimanding "Language, mutt." from Agent Hale. He huffed indignantly.

"My name is Viena." She grinned back. "Viena Serrata." She took his hand and shook it. His hand was warm, almost feverishly hot against hers.

_'Maybe he'd been running,'_ she tried to reason with herself. She had already forgotten that both men had been barefoot when they scrambled into the trunk and did not sweat at all. Who goes for a run without shoes? And in brand new jogging suits.

"Pleasure to meet you." he answered and nodded again. Another russet colored hand was offered to her and she automatically took it.

"Jacob Black." The man opposite Embry murmured.

"Nice... nice to meet you, too." She suddenly felt a little intimidated by the whole situation and fell silent for a minute

"Well,.. so, you work for the ambassador as well?" Viena finally offered trying to be brave and hoped she did not sound as insecure as she thought she did.

"Yeah...," Embry answered with a smirk, "we are kinda like the guard dogs of his Highness."

There was a moment of silence before the car erupted with laughter. McCarty and Jacob guffawed out loud. The pixie girl laughed and it sounded like wind chimes while the young woman next to Viena just shook with silent amusement hiding behind her long hair. Agent Whitlock and the blonde maniac behind the steering wheel chuckled as well.

"Oh. I see." She mumbled confused. Viena had _no_ idea why his answer was that funny or what it meant at all. Jacob reached across and hit Embry on the arm.

"Ow, man! What was that for?" Embry rubbed his shoulder and glared at Jacob.

"Stop with the bad jokes, she clearly has no idea what you're talking about and you being funny isn't helping either."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Embry grumbled and leaned back. He scratched his head and then closed his eyes. Another long silence followed before Embry spoke again.

"So, this must have been the biggest mess I _ever _had the pleasure of getting myself into!" He repeatedly hit his head against the window behind him. "We're so screwed!"

"No shit, sherlock." Jacob answered, his voice was tired and Viena could see the stress in his face.

"We'll talk about it and discuss our options when we are back at the airport and aboard the jet. No need to start worrying about things we cannot change at the moment." The voice was soft and musical but very calm. "Rose, please get us there as fast as you can."

Viena lifted her eyes and she realized it was the golden eyed girl next to her who had spoken. To Viena's astonishment everyone in the car nodded at that statement, the only further reaction to it was that the car sped up even more.

_'She must be related to the embassy and pretty high in the food chain if even the agents listen to her like that.' _Viena studied her more closely. Her neighbor wore a green hoody and tight blue jeans with red converse. She looked like the typical girl next door if there wasn't her startling beauty and the golden eyes. And the pale skin. And the dark circles under her eyes. And the cold that radiated from her like an aura of frost.  
Viena shivered involuntarily and leaned against the cold window. Even the cool glass felt warmer than the girl next to her.

The rest of the drive to the airport was silent and ominous. The feeling of uneasiness was enhanced when Viena managed to tear her eyes from her new fellow passengers and noticed a military convoy led by a jeep and followed by a line of trucks with soldiers in the back and a few APCs (_armored personnel carriers)_ on the other side of the street they raced down. A loud noise startled her and she looked up. She saw four helicopter gunships fly towards the direction the convoy had taken. She tried to follow them with her eyes but they were gone as fast as they had appeared.

Moments later they crossed the Potomac river and took the first exit leading to Ronald Reagan National.

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**A/N: Please tell me what you think so far. I realize there are alot of questions unanswered at this point but I promise the next chapter will be more forthcoming with background information :)**

**Additionally I changed the rating from T to M for language and possible graphic violence in future chapters. Just to be on the safe side.  
**


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